1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of extending the holding time for a cooked food under specified conditions of temperature and high relative humidity, and more specifically, pertains to a novel method of significantly extending the holding time for an additional period through controlling of the environment or atmosphere within a holding chamber without encountering any appreciable loss in the organoleptic, olfactory or textural qualities of the food.
In commercial retail restaurant establishments, especially high volume restaurants of the so-called fast-food or quick service (QSR) type, it is of extreme importance to be able to quickly serve hot foods, which have been prepared some time earlier but which are fresh tasting, to large number of customers within relatively short intervals of time, normally during two major peak periods, such as lunch and dinner hours. Generally, such hot foods, which in the present instance may primarily include chargrilled or broiled or breaded, fried bone-in chicken parts, due to constraints on providing expensive cooking equipment, are ordinarily cooked prior to the two peak serving periods so as to always have sufficient quantities of hot, fresh tasting chicken parts practically immediately available to customers of the restaurant establishments. Hereby, although the foods, such as the chicken parts, are cooked in advance of the peak serving periods, frequently more than an hour beforehand, it is of extreme importance that the flavor, textural, moisture and organoleptic properties thereof be compatible with that of freshly cooked chicken parts in order to fully satisfy the QSR customer's demand for "fresh tasting" food and to enhance so-called repeat business or purchases by the customer at future dates, and also word-of-mouth recommendations to other potential customers, thereby increasing the potential of rendering the restaurant serving the chicken products a viable and commercially successful business establishment.
Hereby, pursuant to the inventive method, the ability to considerably extend the holding time for cooked foods prior to the ultimate serving thereof to a customer, particularly such as chargrilled and fried bone-in chicken parts, which normally degrade in their organoleptic, olfactory and textural properties within relatively short periods of time, enables the preparation well in advance of peak serving periods of large quantities of chicken parts, and the maintenance of the latter under controlled confined environmental or atmospheric conditions while still retaining their initial freshness, in conformance with anticipated customer demands for the chicken product during the peak period, thereby reducing to a minimum the amounts of any so-called "expired" or basically wasted chicken parts due to their degradation in flavor and texture causing them to assume a warmed-over unpalatable taste and thereby becoming essentially unsaleable, or unattractive to customers. By means of the inventive method, it is possible to increase efficiencies in the preparation of such cooked chicken parts and maintain their freshness over extended holding times for possibly 99% of such chicken products, thereby keeping losses due to the degradation thereof to an absolute and economically acceptable minimum.
Moreover, a further advantage of the inventive method resides in the ability of such restaurant establishments to more fully utilize existing cooking equipment at higher capacities in preparing sequential batches of the chargrilled or fried chicken product at earlier and more frequent periods prior to the peak serving periods and then holding the, inasmuch as the extended holding time will enable the earlier prepared cooked batches of chicken parts to retain their full or so-called "fresh" flavor and taste; in essence, giving an impression of having been freshly cooked just before being served to a customer. This will eliminate the necessity for the restaurant having to install and utilize additional cooking equipment to be able to meet anticipated customer demand for such cooked chicken products during the peak serving periods, in effect, lunch and dinner periods.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Although methods and apparatus are known in the fast-food restaurant technology with regard to the holding of cooked foods for extended periods of time in conditions of readiness for subsequent reheating and/or consumption by consumers, there is currently no satisfactory system for carefully controlling the environmental temperature and humidity conditions of a holding chamber for cooked chicken products so as to maintain the latter in a generally "fresh" condition and appearance, necessitating only a brief additional heating or crisping treatment of the product for serving to a customer within a short waiting time, while maintaining organoleptic, olfactory, textural and moisture properties at such high levels as to create the impression that the cooked food, such as chargrilled or fried bone-in chicken parts or the like, has just been freshly cooked prior to being served.
Roderick U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,983 discloses a method of maintaining heat and moisture in food, wherein the food, which may be chicken, ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, hot sandwiches, pies and the like, is maintained in a holding chamber for display to a potential customer, and in which the conditions in the holding chamber are such as to attempt to impart a specified environment tending to maintain the food in a relatively fresh condition over a specific time interval. Although Roderick discloses various temperature ranges in dependence upon specific food products, and also atmospheric moisture ranges in the chamber of up to about 30% relative humidity, there is no disclosure that the holding time is employed in conjunction with an initial cooking step and subsequent reheating in a convection oven to impart crispiness to the outer surface of the cooked and reconstituted food product, such as chicken parts. Furthermore, there is no disclosure of maintaining the temperature within the holding chamber at a minimum level relative to cooked chicken parts of the type considered herein in order to be able to considerably extend the holding times thereof subsequent to initial cooking, in contrast with the relatively limited and short holding times for such product as is known and applied in the current fast-food or QSR technology.
Roderick U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,007 discloses a heat-holding method for the storage of hot foods and the like, in which heated food is maintained in a heating cabinet and relatively dry heat is circulated therethrough. There is no disclosure of utilizing the novel high humidity and relatively low temperature environmental conditions in a holding chamber to maintain cooked foods, such as chargrilled or fried bone-in chicken parts, in a state of "freshness" for extended periods of time, and to be able to reheat and crisp the chicken parts in a convection oven for rapid serving to a consumer while giving the impression that the chicken product has just been freshly prepared and cooked.
In an article entitled "Proper Holding Patterns Maintain Food Quality"; Restaurants and Institutions, April 4, 1990, pages 125 and 126; there is disclosed the utilization of steam tables and bain maries to maintain various types of cooked foods in a properly heated condition for extended periods of time. Hereby, various lengths for holding times and temperature guides are listed for the maintaining of such cooked foods in an essentially edible state, primarily for institutional use and the like. However, based on the temperature ranges which are disclosed, particularly for fried chicken products, due to the relatively high temperature specified at which the fried chicken is maintained in the bain maries or steam tables, at a concomitant loss in crispiness and possible degradation in organoleptic properties imparting a warmed-over taste and texture, which although possibly acceptable for institutional use, would not meet the high levels in quality which are demanded by customers of quick service restaurants and/or fast-food retail outlets.